What is the Annual Adult Nightclub & Exotic Dancer Awards Show?

The Annual Adult Nightclub & Exotic Dancer Awards Show — popularly known as the ED’s Awards Show — is the ONLY national awards show for the multi-billion-dollar gentlemen’s club industry and is produced by ED Publications. Established in 1998, the ED’s Awards Show is the marquee event of the Annual Gentlemen’s Club EXPO, the only national convention & tradeshow for the gentlemen’s club industry since its inception in 1993.

The ED’s Awards Show honors the country’s top gentlemen’s clubs, touring feature entertainers and club staff. The categories for clubs and entertainers have evolved over the years to keep pace with the industry’s evolution. Today, awards are given to clubs in four regions—East, South, Central and West—with designations for Club of the Year and “Small” Club of the Year in each region (“small” club is determined by physical size or the size of the market in which the club is located). There are also club awards for “Feature” Club of the Year (clubs which book touring feature entertainers regularly), Urban Club of the Year, International Club of the Year (clubs outside of the U.S.), and Club Chain of the Year (“chains” are club brands which own multiple locations, such as Rick’s Cabaret, Deja Vu, Spearmint Rhino, Penthouse Clubs, etc.).

The most prestigious club awards is “Overall Gentlemen’s Club of the Year,” a category which typically boasts eight-to-ten nominees from across the U.S. These are clubs that have either won or were nominated in their award region multiple times.

The ED Awards also honors club staff, as they are the ones largely responsible for helping their clubs achieve their success. There are three categories for staff awards: General Manager of the Year, Club Employee of the Year and DJ of the Year.

In the Entertainer award category, there are six awards presented each year. They include Newcomer Entertainer of the Year, Club Favorite Entertainer of the Year, Adult Movie Entertainer of the Year, International Showgirl of the Year, Miss ExoticDancer.com of the Year, and the top award for entertainers, Overall Feature Entertainer of the Year. The criteria for the Overall Entertainer of the Year category has remained steady since the award’s inception: Nominees for this award include the top “showgirl” entertainers who also have the most club bookings. Each of these Entertainer of the Year nominees perform live during the Annual ED’s Awards Show.

Beginning in 2014, however, two Entertainer of the Year nominees were gathered from the Annual EDI (Exotic Dancer Invitational) contests, which are also produced by ED Publications. The top winners from the EDI East and EDI West contest are automatic nominees for Entertainer of theYear, while remaining Entertainer of the Year nominee(s) are chosen by the online nominations voting process.

Finally, ED Publications inducts at least one industry professional each year into its Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame is reserved for those individuals who have helped improve or transform the gentlemen’s club and/or feature entertainment industries over the course of their career.

How are the nominees and winners decided?

For almost a decade now, the balloting process for the ED’s Awards Show has been conducted online (previously, all balloting was done through the mail on paper ballots). It starts with the “Pre-Nomination Voting Ballot,” where anyone from the gentlemen’s club industry can log on to the ED’s voting website (theEDawards.com) to vote for those clubs, entertainers and staff who they feel deserve to be included on the Final Ballot. The Pre-Nominations ballot closes after a two-week period (typically in May), and the ED staff views the results before determining the clubs, entertainers and club staff who will make the Final ED’s Awards Ballot.

Once the Final Ballot is completed, it is also posted online at theEDawards.com for voting. The Final Ballot remains open for at least two weeks (typically in June), but the winners are not disclosed until the Annual Gentlemen’s Club EXPO is held (the EXPO is scheduled for August 11-14, 2019, at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas).

When are the winners announced?

ED’s Award Winners are announced each year at the Annual Gentlemen’s Club EXPO. But because it is impossible to capture people’s attention for a three-hour-plus awards show, ED Publications moved several award presentations to the EXPO’s Opening Night Party (held each year the night before the main ED’s Awards Show). Between eight and ten ED’s Awards are handed out during the well-attended Opening Night Party; these awards typically include the club staff awards, as well as many of the entertainer awards. The remaining awards are handed out the second night of the EXPO (typically a Tuesday night), and these awards include the gentlemen’s club awards, Hall of Fame award(s) and Overall Feature Entertainer of the Year.